Getting started with AQB.NET 3 WinForms and WPF Editions

There are two ways to embed the third version of Active Query Builder into your project.

The first way is suitable for most use cases and available in both the Standard and Professional subscriptions. This way is described below.

The second way gives large freedom in organizing the user interface the way you like. It is available in the Professional subscription only. It allows for re-organizing the controls inside the QueryBuilder object in a non-standard way. For example, to place the Design Area and the Query Column List on separate tabs, to place the Database Schema Tree on a different form, etc. You can learn about it here: Getting started with AQB.NET 3 in the Separated Controls UI or Non-visual mode.

There are two or three components you need to use to get started with Active Query Builder: a syntax provider that suits your database server, a metadata provider that suits your DB connection and the QueryBuilder component that encapsulates all visual controls in a single visual control and has everything that user needs to build a query.

QueryBuilder is a main visual component. It unites all visual controls along with SQL query building logic controllers, SQL query object model, SQL parsing and generation functionality in a single object.

Metadata Provider is a non-visual object to get connected to the database and extract the needed information about database schema. There are special metadata providers for various .NET DB providers. This object is only needed if you work with the live database connection.

Syntax Provider is a non-visual object that determines syntax rules to build correct queries for different SQL dialects. There are lots of supported SQL syntaxes for most popular database servers today, as well as for generic ANSI-compatible SQL language. This object is necessary.